


it all goes downhill from, uh, where was it again?

by sunless_arizona



Series: pink is his favorite color [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Constellations, Cracked Gems, Driving, Gen, Rose’s Fountain, Who cares lol, i dont like her, injuries, pinks fountain??, quartzs being quartzs, well technically a diamond and a quartz but they dont know that yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-10 09:16:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14734223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunless_arizona/pseuds/sunless_arizona
Summary: Maybe sparring in that abandoned lot wasn’t such a good idea after all.





	1. accidents are inevitable when you put amethyst and steven together alone

**Author's Note:**

> set before a single pale rose in an au universe of mine (if people like this ill continue this story and maybe do a whole rewrite. if ur curious comment what ur curious about)

He had to admit, sneaking out with Amethyst in the middle of the night to the middle of nowhere wasn’t the best of ideas, but they both needed to burn off a little extra energy. Ever since Amethyst (and, after a desperate attempt to continue, Steven) quit wrestling (“It just wasn’t a challenge anymore!”), both of them had been rather fidgety. Trying to contain the endless active energy of a quartz gem wasn’t the easiest, safest, or smartest thing to do, so eventually Amethyst had convinced Steven to spar with her in an abandoned lot she had found while exploring the town Connie lived in (“Just like that time we wrecked the Sky Arena, but with less feelings - c’mon, it’ll be fun!”).

This, as many things involving the two rather immature quartz’, ended badly. Badly meaning that they had no idea how to get back to the temple, and even if they did know where the nearest warp pad was, neither of them could use it. Every gem knows that you really can’t do much with a cracked gem. And, unfortunately, Steven’s healing powers were in the realm of ‘things you can’t do with a cracked gem.’

It really was dumb luck that they were so close to Connie’s house. Though “so close” was relative to wherever the nearest warp pad was - Connie’s house was still a good bit away, and walking wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to do when your form is glitching out and you have to lean on your friend just to stay upright.

Steven and Amethyst stumbled up the front steps, Amethyst nearly unbalancing and falling off. Steven pulled her back upright, and held still for a moment, eyes clenched in pain and exertion. He composed himself and tightened his hold on Amethyst, laboriously stepping onto the final step. They were both panting hard, and had general scrapes and cuts from their sparring, which had really gotten out of hand - they were lucky they were still standing now, they had really worn each other out. Amethyst raised an arm to ring the doorbell, flinching and hissing when her form glitched badly. She quickly pressed her pinky finger against the doorbell, ignoring the fact that most of her fingers had glitched themselves away earlier during the walk.

It seemed forever before the door opened, revealing an annoyed Dr. Maheswaran, whose annoyance was quickly replaced with surprise and concern. It wasn’t every day that your daughter’s magic friend and one of his strange family members showed up on your doorstep, looking like they’d both keel over at any second.

“I- what happened?” She asked once the initial shock had worn off, mentally assessing the situation. None of their injuries seemed too bad, but the amount of exhaustion on both of their faces was too much to ignore. Not to mention when Steven’s form shivered and nearly dissipated, though Priyanka had no idea what was happening. Despite her lacking knowledge of gem physiology, it was obvious that it was nothing good judging by the way Steven’s eyes screwed up in pain, and his breathing caught in her throat.

“Just, uh, a training accident..” Amethyst said, words laced with pain. “We, uh, might have cracked our gems…” She trailed off, looking sheepishly at the ground.  
“I have to call Garnet! Or Pearl!” Steven interjected, energy in his voice despite her weakened state.

“Uh, Steven, sorry to break it to you, but neither of them exactly have a phone…” Amethyst said, voice rough. Steven groaned in response, annoyed that he had forgotten.

Priyanka’s medical instincts finally kicked in then, and she carefully ushered both of them inside, where they both sat down on the couch. The two gems let out sighs of relief, some of the tension leaving their bodies as they finally had the chance to rest. Dr. Maheswaran stood nervously over them, unsure of what to do - gems were radically different than humans, especially since humans don’t exactly have gems to break.

Connie walked down the stairs, mostly unconcerned. “Who w- Steven! Amethyst!” Her eyes widened at the sight of the two sitting, fatigue and damage obvious, on the living room couch. She ran the rest of the way down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and stopped in front of her prone friends.

“What happened to you?!” Connie nearly yelled, eyes widening even more when she caught sight of Amethyst’s cracked gem. Though she wasn’t fully versed in gem anatomy, she knew from secondhand experience that a cracked gem was a huge problem. She considered herself lucky that Steven had told her that story (though it was a bit ironic that Amethyst cracked her gem in both encounters).

“Eh. Training accid-“ The purple gem’s voice cut off as her form glitched again, mouthing the words silently. Connie pursed her lips - it was obviously getting worse.

Dr. Maheswaran seemed to compose herself quickly, and nudged Connie out of the way to see exactly how bad the cracks were. She crouched down to see their gems better, Steven’s conveniently exposed by a rip in his shirt. Amethyst’s gem had a long diagonal crack that was deeper in the center, and Steven had shallower spiderweb cracks lacing over his whole gem.

“I’m not sure how to treat this. I’m guessing one of you does?” Dr. Maheswaran asked professionally.

“Uh, usually I can heal things like this but since my gem is cracked…” Steven trailed off and Dr. Maheswaran sighed, furrowing her brow and looking closer at the cracked gems. “But Garnet and Pearl have some of my mom’s healing tears stored! And even if they didn’t we have her fountain!”

“But isn’t the fountain like, on the other side of the world or something?” Connie added, looking over them nervously.

“Well… yeah.” Amethyst rolled her eyes at Steven’s statement, though one of them had a couple more pupils than usual in it. “And we have no way to contact Garnet and Pearl either…”

Dr. Maheswaran stood and adjusted her shirt.

“I’ll drive you. You both need medical assistance immediately, and it’s clear that I am not equipped to treat you.” Steven grinned and made to thank her when Connie interrupted.

“Can I come too? Please?” Dr. Maheswaran sighed and looked at Connie, annoyed.

“No. Getting there without hurting them more will be hard enough without another person in the car.”

“ _Please?_ ” Connie asked again. “They’re my friends! I have to know if they’ll be okay!”

Dr. Maheswaran sighed a long-suffering sigh and nodded.

“Fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if people like this i may do a whole su rewrite haha... i have a lot of ideas (they include some of the famethyst and some of the ruby squad if anyones curious)


	2. driving can be fun (but usually not when two of your friends are in mortal danger)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> only one chapter after this... probably finished it’ll be around 3000 words

Getting into the car was much harder than they initially anticipated. Both Steven and Amethyst were steadily weakening as time went on. Luckily Steven’s form never glitched out as much as Amethyst’s did (at this point almost none of her was proportionate anymore), but he still had trouble standing. Dr Maheswaran was carrying Amethyst, as her form wasn’t able to hold itself up. That left Connie to steady Steven as he slowly worked his way to the car. Dr Maheswaran had opened both doors that opened to the back seat before they attempted to bring Steven and Amethyst out.

“Ow…” Steven whined as he tripped on a rock, the small pain adding to the already burning pain of his cracked gem. Connie caught him before he fell, but she wasn’t able to do it as gently as she wanted, and he winced. Amethyst was handling the situation much better - she had been cracked before, and had better pain tolerance in general. It also helped that she was being carried instead of just lead.

Dr Maheswaran carefully laid Amethyst as comfortably as she could on the back seat, and Steven slowly eased himself into a sitting position next to her with a little help from Connie, who also handed him his seatbelt. Amethyst, who would never wear a seatbelt anyways, just gave a soundless chuckle at the other gem’s continued concern for safety. Steven huffed in response. Dr Maheswaran closed the door on Amethyst’s side and Connie closed the door on hers.

Connie and Dr Maheswaran got into the front of the car, Connie twisting herself to look back and make sure they were still okay (as if one of them may have had suddenly shattered out of nowhere), and Dr Maheswaran looked at them through the rearview mirror.

“Everyone okay back there?” She asked, and when Steven gave a weak thumbs up, she put the key in the ignition and started the car. The vibration of the engine caused both gems to wince a little, and Connie gave them a look that was a cross between worry and sympathy.

Finally, they pulled out of the driveway, on their way to Beach City. The ride was tense and silent. Connie had since turned herself the right way around after her mother spared her a withering glance. The low gas warning blinked quietly, as it had done from the beginning. Dr Maheswaran looked at it worriedly. She hoped they would have enough to make it to the nearest gas station - about a mile away.

This was not meant to be.

No sooner than she had thought that, the car began slowing, soon only coasting along with its previous momentum. Dr Maheswaran gritted her teeth and pulled over as quick as she could and the car came to a slow stop.

“W-what happened?” asked Steven, who looked at Dr Maheswaran through the mirror, concerned. Amethyst picked her head up and looked too, a cross between annoyance and confusion on her face.

“We’re out of gas.” The annoyance in her voice was clear, but Dr Maheswaran just sighed.

“So… Does that mean we have to push the car?” Connie asked hesitantly.

“Yes.” The answer was simple and enacted immediately as she got out of the car and walked around back. Steven sighed and looked to Amethyst - he wanted to help, but was well aware that it was too dangerous for him to try to push the car. Especially when he could barely get into it earlier. He bit his lip and glanced outside where Connie and her mother were beginning to push the car. His cracked gem didn’t stop him from wanting to at least offer help.

His eyes were pulled away from the two outside by a smack on his arm. He looked at Amethyst, and she rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, clearly conveying her message.

Steven sighed. “I know,” he said. “I just really want to help.”

Amethyst waved her hand in the air dismissively. _They’ll be fine on their own_ , the gesture said.

“I guess…” Steven trailed off and silence reigned once again. It stayed that way until, finally, the bright lights of a gas station were close enough to be seen, at which point a muffled _“Finally!”_ was heard from Connie. It wasn’t long before they were close enough for Dr Maheswaran to walk inside and purchase a canister of gas. The car’s engine was refilled and the group was once again on their way.

A couple minutes later, they were a couple minutes closer, and somehow Amethyst was asleep in the back seat. Normally she’d be snoring loudly, but her voice was still gone, so the silence continued, but the tension in the car seemed a bit thinner.

Most of the rest of the drive was through empty fields with the occasional tree or bush. The stars, however, were out in full force, and Steven distracted himself from the pain by looking out the window and seeing how many constellations he could find, sometimes making up new ones of his own. It was a few minutes before he realized Connie was watching him, and he looked back at her.

“What are you doing?” She asked quietly.

“Looking for constellations. I found a few, but I don’t really know that many, so now I’m just making up new ones.

“Oh. Like what?” Worry was still in her eyes, but they both welcomed the distraction.

“Well, right there, those three are Peridot. They make the exact shape of her gem!” He spoke in a whisper, but his enthusiasm was still obvious.

“Oh yeah! I see that!” Connie hummed as she looked out the window herself at the stars. “Those six right there - do you think maybe that could be Pearl’s spear?” Connie asked, pointing out the stars in question.

“Yeah! That’s totally her spear!”

Most of the rest of the drive they spent creating new constellations, the cool night air coming in from Connie’s window (opened slightly when the air in the car had seemed suffocating) feeling slightly less heavy than before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please comment if you liked!! tell me what you thought!!


	3. being a parent is difficult when your child insists on making friends with dangerous aliens

Priyanka considered herself a rational, cool-headed woman. So rational and cool-headed, in fact, that she could even be so under the pressure of her daughter’s two alien (well, one alien and one half-alien) friends sustaining life-threatening injuries that she was unable to treat. For the most part.

Her doubts about the aliens kept repeating in her head. This time, however, the question _What if Connie gets hurt?_ isn’t just a worrying thought - its a cold, hard, reality. These two - Steven and Amethyst - were in mortal danger. And it was just a training accident? She didn’t quite buy it, but it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. If just training could do this to two hard gemstones what could it do to Connie?

Worry and adrenaline rushed through her blood as she drove the car towards Beach City. The questions kept coming ( _What if one of the others gets injured on a mission and Connie can’t defend herself? What if she gets seperated? What if she falls and breaks her leg? What if she gets hurt? What if she gets hurt?!_ ) but they all had one thing in common - what if Connie gets hurt? In the end, it wouldn’t really matter how, just that she did.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. How an injury was inflicted could be the difference between life and death. And she doesn’t even want to think about _what if Connie is-_

No, she needs to focus. There are two injured people in the back of her car, and she is a calm and collected medical official who isn’t fazed by any injury, no matter how severe. She is completely unbothered by the two dying people ( _children_ , her mind says, even if she’s well aware that Amethyst is well over one thousand years old) sitting in the back of her car with near untreatable injuries. Really, she isn’t.

She’s jerked out of her thoughts when she realizes the scenery (if you could call it that) isn’t rushing by as fast, isn’t a blur of shades and colours. Her eyes flick to the gas dial, and the red empty symbol flicks back unfeelingly.

She steers the coasting car to the side of the road and her restlessness skyrockets. Yet, still she is still, staring blankly at the road ahead. She knows from experience that a gas station is only about a mile ahead. Someone asks a question, and she answers, of course. She’s level-headed, not panicking at all. Nope. Not Priyanka Maheswaran.

Then she and Connie are pushing the car, and it seems like no time and forever that she spends with her worries again ( _What if it’s Connie who’s at my door next-_ ) before the neon lights of the gas station are reflecting off the car and the grass and her own daughter’s face. She buys the gas from a cashier equally as unfeeling as the still-blinking empty light on her car’s dashboard, and she’s tired, but its not hard to refill gas and it isn’t hard to get back on the road either, she tells herself.

Soon she sees the “ _Welcome to Beach City!_ ” sign and it’s ironic how cheery it has the nerve to be when two of Connie’s friends are dying right behind her. From the sign to the neighborhoods is a minute that feels like an hour to everyone in the car. From the neighborhoods to the boardwalk is ten minutes that seem like ten seconds, and it’s only now that Steven decides to say something that really does make the situation ten times more tense (though, as hard as she tries, she can’t blame him. He’s too pure, too sweet, too mature, and she worries that one day Connie will be like him).

“I hope they’re not all on a mission or something…” And Priyanka freezes inside, because what if they are? What if they both die because the gems aren’t there? _What if Connie gets hurt and no one is there to help her?_

But she does her best to ignore those thoughts, because she is Doctor Priyanka Maheswaran, and she does not panic.

“They will be.” She says, and that’s the end of that. The lights of the boardwalk shine against the car and she can see the broken refractions that hit her mirror from the two cracked gemstones dying in the backseat. She stops checking the mirror.

They pull up onto the beach in front of the stairs leading up to the house, and Connie is out the door before the car even stops completely, racing up the stairs and banging on the door. Garnet opens it on the first knock, and it’s obvious how upset she is and Priyanka feels a moment of connection ( _What if Connie-_ ) before she steps out of the car, a cool, grim expression on her face. Garnet skips the stairs entirely, and if she can see the panic in her eyes she’s nice enough (or concerned enough with… other matters) not to say anything about it.

She opens one of the backdoors easily and carefully cradles both broken gems in her arms, and for a moment she’s going to jump back up, but she glaces back down at Amethyst and thinks better of it. She walks carefully up the stairs and then Pearl is there, worriedly looking over both Steven and Amethyst’s gems. She looks like she’s itching to give them both a proper scolding, but concern and unshed tears shine in her eyes and she’s quiet. Connie and Priyanka follow silently, and while Pearl shoots them concerned looks - like she’s not sure if they should be there or not - Garnet ignored them, a frown set stone on her face.

Nobody takes in the blooming flowers and moonlit marble when they arrive at the portal, and Priyanka’s nerves are spinning again - Just what was that? - but she is quiet like the rest of them as Garnet leads the way to the fountain. She is not walking any faster or slower than normal, just taking more care to hold the two gems in her arms still, but the world is still in slow motion and it still takes days in Priyanka’s mind to reach the edge of the fountain.

Garnet lays them both down carefully in the water, making sure to support Steven’s head above water, and there is a pale pink glow as the cracks in their gems shrivel and disappear entirely. There is a moment of silence, relief, before Amethyst starts talking, making up for the time she spent unable. Priyanka understands nothing of what she says, and makes no effort to.

Garnet smiles softly and watches the two in the fountain for a moment before turning to Priyanka.

“Sorry you had to come all this way. I would have got them myself but the chance was so small…”

Priyanka smiles thinly back at her. Worry still races through her and it’s all she can do to keep herself together, but she can feel relief rushing alongside it, and suddenly she’s calming down (not calm, obviously, but on her way). “It was nothing. I’m just glad they’re okay.” She’s telling the truth, and Garnet can tell too, probably, because her smily eases even more.

“Here. I’ll take you back.”

Priyanka half expects Connie to protest, but she’s much too tired (everyone is) and the rest of the gems barely notice when the warp pad lights up and takes them away.

The drive home is tense still, but a step up from the death that had lurked there before. When they get home, it’s one in the morning and Priyanka hugs her daughter so tight it hurts. Connie doesn’t protest, and while worry still lingers in Priyanka’s mind, she is graced with dreamless sleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow we’re done. tell me what u thought and also if u would like to see more of my writing!!!


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